The present invention relates to an image processing apparatus and an image processing method, wherein an image process for an input color image is performed, for example, in a digital color copying machine that reads a color image on an original and forms a copy image thereof.
In the field of modern copying machines, it is common art to perform, in an initial set mode, a discrimination process for an original on which a character image and a gray-scale image appear in a mixed fashion, and to apply a suitable image process for each image and output the processed result.
Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKOKU Publication No. 04-5305, for instance, discloses a discrimination method wherein a two-dimensional block of a predetermined size is generated, a pixel value of a pixel of interest is compared with a pixel value of a peripheral pixel, the presence of an edge is determined when a difference between the pixel values is greater than a predetermined value, and the edge is detected as a component of a character or a ruled line.
However, an edge portion of a gray-scale image, which does not belong to a screen dot area, may be erroneously recognized as a character. As a result, the image quality of the erroneously recognized portion may deteriorate.